Contest winner gets business

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) Less than a month after a Las Vegas woman won a Winter Park restaurant by writing an essay, an Englewood man is offering his business in a similar contest.

Nathan Elinoff has begun soliciting essays and $100 entry fees in a contest for ownership of the Funtastic Fun indoor amusement center.

Elinoff, 43, has operated the center for about 18 years and says it's time to do something different.

''This is the best way to keep it going for generations to come,'' Elinoff said. ''There's no point in closing it down.''

He said he needs at least 30,000 entries, enough for $3 million in entry fees, to pay off debts including an $810,000 mortgage, nearly $450,000 in other loans and $700,000 in taxes.

If he does not receive the minimum number of entries, he said he would keep the business and use the proceeds to help pay off the mortgage. Each entrant still would receive $148 worth of passes to the center, he said.